Key-fastener



(No Model.)

A. 0. MACK. KEY PASTENER.

Patented Aug. 9, 1892.

l 'l I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ANDREW O. MACK, OF PORTLAND, OREGON.

KEY-FASTEN ER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 480,330, dated August 9, 1892.

Application filed February 24, 1892. Serial No. 4:22i (N0 modem To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ANDREW O. MACK, a citizen of the United States, residing at Portland, in the county of Multnomah and State of Oregon, have invented a new and useful Key Guard or Fastener, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to improvements in key guards or fasteners.

,The object of the present invention is to provide a simple and inexpensive device adapted to be readily applied to a door to prevent a key from being forced out of a lock or turned by nippers or other instruments from the exterior. 1

The invention consists in the construction and novel combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and pointed out in the claims hereto appended.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a key fastener or guard constructed in accordance with this invention, the parts being in operative position. Fig. 2 is a front elevation showing the parts folded. Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view, the parts being shown as in Fig 1. Fig. 4 is a perspective view illustrating a modification of the invention.

Like numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures of the drawings.

l designates an escutcheon-plate, to which is attached a folding bracket 2, comprising a back plate 3, a shelf 4, and a brace 5. The back plate 3 is suitably secured to a door by screws or the like and is arranged on the inner face of the same, andis provided at its upper edge with a slot 6, registering with the keyhole-slot of the escutcheon-plate to permit the insertion and withdrawal of a key 7.

The shelf is horizontally disposed and is hinged at its inner edge to the top of the back plate 3, and it is adapted when in a horizontal position to fit against and support the outer enlarged end or eye of the key 7, which eye is arranged horizontally on the shelf, whereby the key will be held against turning, and its inner end will be arranged transversely of the key-slot to prevent the key being forced out of the look. When the shelf is not in use,

it is folded vertically on the back plate, and it is provided at its inner edge with a slot 8, which registers with the keyhole to provide a passage for the key. The shelf 5 is hinged vertically to the back plate, against which itis adapted to be folded when not in use, and it is arranged at right angles to the back plate to support the shelf in a horizontal position. It is prevented slipping and accidentally folding by any tampering with the key from the exterior bya notched flange 9, depending from the lower face of the shelf and preferably formed by striking out aportion of the metal of the shelf.

The device is especially designed for use in hotels, boarding-houses, private residences, and the like, and it will be found especially advantageous on the bed room-doors of hotels and boarding-houses.

Idesireit to be understood thatI do notlimit myself to the precise details of construction, as I may, without departing from. the spirit of the invention, make minor changes therein, such as the arrangement of the brace forsupporting the shelf in a horizontal position, as illustrated in Fig.4 of the accompanying drawings.

That I claim is 1. A key guard or fastener comprising a folding bracket consisting of a horizontal shelf hinged at its inner end and a hinged brace arranged to support the shelf in a horizontal position, substantially as described.

2. A key guard or fastener consisting of a bracket comprising a back plate provided with a slot to register with a keyhole-slot of a look, a horizontal shelf hinged at its inner end to the back plate and provided with a slot arranged adjacent to the slot of the back plate, said shelf having a notched flange, and a brace hinged to the back plate and arranged to engage the notched flange to support the shelf in a horizontal position, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two Witnesses.

ANDREW O. MACK.

IVitn esses:

L. STEPHENS, J. H. GALLINGER. 

